Highlights of February - Part 1

Day 7 to Day 34

Whale watching

On goes the life jacket and into the boat! Zooming off over the water to look for whales!

We spotted one, but it was sleeping. This was a fin whale we only got to see its fin sticking out of the water and we got close enough to see its head under the water. These are the second longest whale. We let the whale sleep and zoomed off again to find more life in the sea. Puff, a big squirt of water, we spotted another whale...it was a humpback whale. I got the perfect shot:

After following the whale for a while, it was time to see other wildlife.

We got to see penguins, different birds, a sea bird (who spend all their life at sea) and hundreds of sea lions. 

Lighthouse and beach

In La Serena we visited the lighthouse which is the symbol of the city then hired a 2-person bike to ride down by the beach. It is a very long beach. We also spent the day just hanging out on the beach in the beautiful sunshine.

 

Broken down 

Oh no! The car wouldn’t start! We were in a small town! We thought it was the battery someone stopped by to help us try to restart it but no luck! Off, the find a mechanic. He charged the battery enough to find an electrical mechanic. The problem was the alternator wasn’t charging the battery! 

Then fully charged we had to make our way back to the big city La Serena before the battery died! We made it but the problem was it was a Friday night and we had to wait till Monday for someone to see the van. Finally on Monday we had good luck and it was all sorted. 

Pisco Valley

Pisco tasting time!

Pisco is an alcoholic sprit made from grapes. It is a very popular drink in Chile.

We learnt how pisco is made; first they harvest the grapes, extract the juice and turn it into wine. They leave it to ferment but not as long as wine; around 16 days. Then into the distillery, they heat the wine the water condensates then the alcohol. There are 3 parts of the alcohol process: the head, the heart and the tail. The head comes first which is methanol, then the heart which is Ethanol and the tail at the end which is also methanol. The head and the tail are sold off to make alcohol gel and the heart is sent to be mixed with water that doesn’t contain minerals to make pisco. The last part of the process to leave it in oak barrels, depending on how aged they want the pisco it’s left there to mature. Minimum time is 8 months. 

First we went to ? Had a tour of the distillery and learnt that this particular pisco is made with 5 types of grapes and that if you cut the grapes at night it gives a different flavor. This company exports all they produce internationally. We got to try some lemon, mango and maqui pisco sours, delicious!

I think Monty was a little drunk after the first tour!

Next we head to another distillery called ?

This distillery only uses 2 types of grapes which we tried and they were nice and sweet but had a very thick skin. They use bees to pollinate their grape plant. The pisco tasting was great we tried 4 different types! Monty found the perfect size bottle for himself too!

Astronomical tour

We got to see any different parts of the night sky, first the moon was up and could see the fine details on the moon then it set and gave us darkness to see the fantastic stars. Monty enjoyed looking at the stars.

 

Horse riding

Trek through the valley on horseback. It was a very relaxing ride. We got taken to a rock glacier spring. The water tasted good, fresh and cold.

Charro 

I meet a Charro (this is a traditional Mexican singer) he is actually Chilean and has been singing since he was 13 years old and is famous in the area. He has produced 9 albums with number 10 on the way. His stage name is El Ruiseñor de Limarí and he gets hired to serenade people for birthdays, parties and special events. I got to watch him in action at a party. 

Chinchillas

Went to the Chinchillas National Park but it was closed for maintenance so we couldn’t go on a hike. As it was late we stopped off for the night anyways. Then sitting eating breakfast and we were joined by 2 Chinchillas! I was so happy I got to see some, they look so cute.

Bridge of wishes

This is a small bridge that people come to make a wish and as they do so tie a ribbon on the bridge. We didn’t make a wish!

Viña del Mar and Valparaíso 

Viña del Mar and Valparaiso are 2 city’s that are right next to each other. We stayed with some friends Pablo and Daniela and had a good catch up. They took us on a walk around Valparaiso to see the street art, have a drink and pizza.

We also visited; The lift, an outside church, the flower clock and a castle.

January 2022 - The test drive and the start of a new adventure.

This year started off in San Pedro, Joaquin and I went to visit for a few days to test some functions of the van - the bed, toilet and solar panel.

We had a lovely last meal of 2021 and listened to the fireworks as we set up our van for the first night sleeping inside. It was a restless night as every time we heard a noise, we were like ‘what was that!’

The second day we visited Aldea de Tulor which is an archaeological site of a village of a tribe. They used to bury the dead in a room in the house and then seal it off they haven’t continued excavating the site as it is also a burial site. 

Then we went to Toconao, a small town where we followed the river into the dessert and here is Monty and I visiting the church.

 This night was spent behind the petrol station where there is an area for campervans and it was a better night’s sleep but it was a little noisy with the traffic at times.

This was a busy day as we went to see flamingos, got to see a wild fox and a huge salt lake which was near to Argentina’s boarder, this was a day fill of driving (for Joaquin).

After having a lovely picnic we then drove all the way back to San Pedro and then on to the Valle del Arcoiris (Rainbow valley). It was lovely to see the sun setting over the multi-coloured hills. This last night was the best night sleep in the van it could have been because we were so tired or that it was pitch black and there was never a sound outside.

Monty with all the coloured rock!

After watching the sunrise we went for a walk to see the area, breakfast then it was time to head home. We had only found one issue with the toilet and the rest of the things functioned well. 

It was time to finish off the van adding the kitchen and making it look good before we are heading off on a 5/6 month adventure around South America (fingers crossed covid restrictions allow us).   

The van was finished. Our journey started on Wednesday 26th January 2022!

Day 1

We had finally packed everything into the van that we needed and around 4pm we set off to our first destination Pan de Azúcar. As we left a little late, we arrived in darkness and stopped at the beach and spent the first night on the trip in our van. As we were in the national park, we were looking forward to doing some hikes.

Day 2

Our first breakfast.

After breakfast we went for a walk along the beach and saw the park ranger who told us the best hikes to go on. We set off at the hottest part of the day with our water and a bag of peanuts. The walk seems to go on for ages, but we finally arrived at the end.

Made it back to the van for a very late lunch which turned into dinner as well. 
We had a rest, then set off on another hike for the sunset, where we saw a fox and a beautiful view over the beach. On our return to our camping spot, it was time for a movie night with popcorn.

Day 3 
I really enjoyed being in Pan de Azúcar, it is my favourite place I’ve visited so far on my trip (and it’s only the first place)!

It was time to set off and continue to Cardera. Straight to the museum when we arrive, which was not really a museum and only had information about dinosaurs and a huge shell collection on show. Time to eat a Churro and then head to explore the lighthouse.

This is a square lighthouse as it is made from wood. We watched the sunset then settled down for the night.

Day 4
No time to rest it was on to the next place. On our journey to Copiapó we visited the place where the 33 miners got trapped in the mine in 2010 and got recused after 70 days from 700 meters underground. We got to speak to one of the miners who was rescued and we learnt about all the sights and plans they had to recuse the miners. I remember it well on the News and it was strange to re-live the moment again. Chile had a lot of support from around the world even a very powerful drill was shipped from Canada to start drilling; one of the plans for rescue. There is a strange link to the number 33 with this mission, here are a few of them; there were 33 miners trapped, 33 km away from the nearest city, on the 33rd week of the year, the rescue note received from the miners had 33 characters, it took 33 days for the drill to reach the miners and they were rescued on 13/10/10 if you add those numbers, it makes 33! This is the sight that they got rescued from:

Monty Visiting the site too!

There are now 33 flags representing all the minors at the site.

After the mine we made it to Copiapó, where we really wanted to visit the museum where they have artefacts from the 33 miners rescue, but it was closed. In the future planning we need to check all the opening times of places. As we arrived on Sunday and it didn’t open till Tuesday we continued our trip, instead of waiting and wasting time. The next place we arrived was Llanos del Challe, this is another national park.

Day 5
Finally, we had time to rest at Playa Blanca (White Beach). We spent the day doing washing, having our first shower in the awning, sewing, a walk along the beach and playing some games. 

Day 6 
Woke up and took an early hike, where we came across a guanaco (it’s a type of Lama) who got a little scared of our presence and ran up the hill and then stopped looked back at us and started neighing at us. Then we got so scared that it would chase after us! 

There is a lot of driving involved in getting between places in the North of Chile, so it was then on to the next place - Chañaral de Aceituna.

Family Visit Chile (February 2020)

My family took a long flight from the U.K. to Chile landing in Santiago, Joaquin and I meet them at the airport and then the tours began. My Mum and Dad had no idea what we would being doing so everything was a surprise. 

Here are all the things we got up to with my family:

 

Santiago

We stayed a few days in Santiago, we had a personal tour from Joaquin and walked around the city sightseeing.

They tried Mote con Huesillo (it’s a kind of drink with peach and wheat).

Sky Costanera centre

This is the tallest building in South America, so we went up to the top to see the view of the city. As we went up in the evening we could see the city from the day, watch a beautiful sunset and see the city at night. 

Wine tour

This was one of the best parts of their trip because of course they got to drink wine. We visited the Vino Concha y Toro which makes the Casillero del Diablo wines. 

We had a tour of the winery, learnt about how they make the wine, the story behind the devil, tried the grapes and of course tasted the wine!

Monty enjoying the wine.

Antofagasta

It was off on a flight up to Antofagasta for our families to meet for the first time in person. We had a Chilean BBQ, a little different from an English one. Hannah and Dawud joined us too. 

Beach time

Spent some relaxing time at the beach. Drinking more wine of course. Here in Chile, you can buy wine in a 2 litre bottle. 

Astronomical tour

We had our own private tour picking us up and heading out into the desert. We stopped at the hand of the desert, a piece of art in the middle of nowhere! 

They set up the telescopes and we spent the night looking at the stars and learnt more about our universe. We got to see the southern cross which you can only see from the Southern Hemisphere which my parents were so excited about seeing.

Wedding

Of course, this was the best day of their trip as they got to watch Joaquin and I get married. It was a stressful day leading up to the ceremony everyone pitched in to help transport things, clean up the beach and assemble the decorations. Time for the fun to start, my dad was there to walk me down the aisle, delicious food was eaten, speeches were given, first dance, everyone dancing the night way, cake cutting, games were played and party hats came out for even more dancing. My parents said it was the best wedding they had ever been too and they’ve been to a lot of weddings, so it much have been a good one! 

Observatory

It was a late finish to the wedding and the next day was an early start. There was a big group of us from my family and Joaquin’s heading to the observatory for a tour. Of course, Joaquin’s family did the tour in Spanish and we had a tour in English. 

It was very fascinating for then to see such a huge telescope and learn more about space. My mum loves space but this telescope is a lot bigger than hers at home. 

City tour

I had to work for the day at school but Joaquin took my family on a tour of Antofagasta. They visited the clock tower, a cemetery (they don’t bury people in the ground they build tombs above ground one on top of the other and then seal them off once occupied. Family’s usual have a plot and are buried together), La Portada, Tropic of Capricorn, a visit to my school to see where I worked, my dad made friends with the music teacher and they were playing music together.

Hike up the hill

I got the morning off work to take my family on their last outing of their trip before they had to fly back to England. It was up to the anchor on a small but steep hill for a little hike to see the best views of Antofagasta. 

Monty had a photo with his creator at the top. 

A wonderful meal out altogether before we had to say our goodbyes.

January (2020) – Torres Del Paine Hike – The W Trail

Day 1

The next morning, we had to be up very early to catch our bus to the National Park. I was one of the first ready and left the house carrying my big backpack and a box of everyone’s food. Joaquin and I had made it to the bus just in time and we were still waiting for the 7 others to join us. Luckily, they all made it just in time. As we were departing the bus station, I remembered that we had left the cheese, bacon and chicken in the hostel’s fridge. Oh well it was just vegetables for dinner then!

Arrived at the national park to pay the entrance fee! I had to pay about £35 whereas the Chileans in the group only about £10. What a price difference!

Next stop, the ferry port to take us over to the first camp site. On arrival it was raining but managed to get our tents up before we headed off on a small walk along one of the less travelled trails. 

Then preparing dinner in the kitchen.

^{Day 2}

This was the first day for a full 10-hour hike. We started at our campsite Paine Grande and headed up to see Gray glacier. 

It was a fun day but sometimes the wind was very cold. We had made it to the glacier and the next campsite for lunch.  

To get a better look at the glacier we hike a bit further and across some hanging bridges. Where only one person was allowed to cross at once.

 

It was then time to head back to our camp site. This is when the grey clouds started coming over us. The heavens opened and we got socked. Then the sun came out and we managed to dry off but as we were getting close to camp yet again the skies turned black and we got drenched. This is when I found out that my waterproof coat was no longer waterproof! I was socked all the way through down to my underwear. Although, it was lovely to have a hot shower and change on return to camp.

The summer days are so long here. I noticed that it was hard to feel sleepy when it was still light at 11pm!

Day 3

Getting very wet the day before had a knock-on effect for the next day. The plan was to hike to the Británico lookout but we set off late as we were trying our hardest to dry off our coats and shoes still. This meant that we didn’t have time on our side we only managed to walk to the next campsite and back. It was still such a beautiful hike and I had to modify my coat so it would be waterproof again…a bin bag was very handy. There were a few showers but most of the day was glorious sunshine.

This camp site was not actually open for people to stay at but we did have to use the toilet…this was not a pleasant experience, because of location it was a drop toilet but the stench is indescribable. These were also toilets that were in a treehouse like structure we had to climb the stairs.

On the way back to camp I was having a lot of trouble with my knee and found it so hard to stand on my leg. Luckily, we had trekking poles which helped a lot. On the lake we saw how strong the wind was as it was creating mini twisters of water and blowing droplets of water in the air and creating rainbows over the lake. On another part of this trail, we were walking into the wind it was hard to walk very far at all and then other times the wind would be at our sides or behind us and kept blowing me over. I lost count of the number of times I ended up on the floor that day. I then had to get it strapped up...its a good job there were physio's with me.

Day 4

This was a little rest day…as we couldn’t book the middle camp site on this trail, we decided to miss out the middle part and we had to get back on the ferry and take a bus to the last part of the trail instead.

I felt like this was a great idea because we got to see some amazing parts of the park and trail, we didn’t have to carry a heavy backpack over rough terrain (I don’t think my knee would have coped with the extra weigh actually), and we managed to have a bit of a rest day in the middle as 10 hours a day of hiking is a lot on the body.

Jorge decided that he would hike to the next campsite but we had to take his backpack with us on the ferry and bus. Off we set to the next camp site and was time to set up the tents, have an early dinner and off to bed very very early because……

^{Day 5}

WE GOT UP AT 2AM! Yes, 2am! We wanted to see the sunrise over the famous Torres del Paine peak. It is not advised to do this hike during the night but we also had to catch our bus at noon! We hoped to get there before the sunrise and get back intime to pack up the tents and board our bus back to Puerto Natales.

 

 It was so dark when we started off the hike that we all had our headtorches on but they didn’t light up much in front of us, so you had to be so careful where you were stepping. I think we took a little wrong turn and ended up walking up on the horses’ trail track. It was raining but it was also hot and sticky and it didn’t help that I had a bin bag for a coat! My knee was so sore but I kept going as I was not going to miss this part of the hike. We arrived at the next camp site for a quick toilet stop before heading on up. Finally, we reached the famous spot, we missed the sunrise but it was cloudy so there wasn’t much of the sunrise to see.

  

It was very windy up there and cold. That is why I brought my sleeping bag to wrap myself up in while we ate breakfast. After a needed rest it was time to head back to camp.

 

It was so beautiful to see the landscape on the way back that we missed on the way there but there were some very narrow paths with steep drops. 

It was so lucky that everyone managed to arrive safely. When we were almost back to camp we passed many people heading up to the spot but they kept asking us how much further it was…we said you have a few hours to go yet! Even though I was struggling to walk I still managed to arrive back to camp before some of the other in the group.

It was a very mad rush to pack up the tents and get over to the bus. We made it and then everyone was asleep! We made it back to Puerto Natales and checked in out hostel.

Day 6

This was just a rest day and a day to explore Puerto Natales, we went to see the hand in the south (which is only the finger tips), and in the evening there was a beer festival which we ended up at.

 

Then, for me, it was time to head off to Scout camp for another week of sleeping in the tent.